Abstract
The aphid Schlechtendalia chinensis is an economically important
insect that can induce horned galls, which are valuable for the
medicinal and chemical industries. Up to now, more than twenty aphid
genomes have been reported. Most of the sequenced genomes are derived
from free-living aphids. Here, we generated a high-quality genome
assembly from a galling aphid. The final genome assembly is 271.52 Mb,
representing one of the smallest sequenced genomes of aphids. The genome
assembly is based on contig and scaffold N50 values of the genome
sequence are 3.77 Mb and 20.41 Mb, respectively. Nine-seven percent of
the assembled sequences were anchored onto 13 chromosomes. Based on
BUSCO analysis, the assembly involved 96.9% of conserved arthropod and
98.5% of the conserved Hemiptera single-copy orthologous genes. A total
of 14,089 protein-coding genes were predicted. Phylogenetic analysis
revealed that, S. chinensis diverged from the common ancestor ofEriosoma lanigerum approximately 57 million years ago (MYA). In
addition, 35 genes encoding salivary gland proteins showed
differentially when S. chinensis forms a gall, suggesting they
have potential roles in gall formation and plant defense suppression.
Taken together, this high-quality S. chinensis genome assembly
and annotation provide a solid genetic foundation for future research to
reveal the mechanism of gall formation and to explore the interaction
between aphids and their host plants.